Life Transitions in the Boundary Waters

I’ve found that a trip in nature, removing one’s self, if only briefly, from society and from the day to day, can help in the process of making larger transitions in life. The extra separation, the quiet, the scenery helps you to reflect on where you have been and where you are going next. The daily focus on the mundane, the thousands of paddle strokes or foot steps, setting up camp, starting a fire, preparing and eating meals, and daily repetition gives you a stability of purpose and focus that provides stability when other parts of your life are in flux. It also gives you memories that you can take with you into your new act of life. I have often envisioned a hike on the Appalachian Trail to commemorate my transition to retirement. There are a number of trips that I do associate with transitions in my life. Three of these such trips occurred in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). One of those such trips was a trip with friends after we had graduated, but before we started our jobs.

As our final semester of school wound down, four of us came upon the idea for a trip in the Boundary Waters. During our years of school, I had talked about many of my trips and had gone on others, but with family and friends from outside of school. I was the only one who had been on a trip such as this, but each member of our group brought their own strengths. Phil, our resident Eagle Scout, had lots of camping experience. Danny was just coming off of an Ironman finish. And Brad had unending enthusiasm. I was confident that we could have a fun and successful trip with this crew.

For those familiar with the BWCA, we entered at Lake One on a route that traveled through the Numbered Lakes to Lake Insula, through Thomas and Ima Lakes before circling back through Disappointment Lake and Snowbank.

We paired experience with inexperience putting Danny in a canoe with me and Brad in the canoe with Phil.

We set out on our trip the weekend after graduation. Leaving from Madison in the afternoon, we drove through the night, reminiscing on our just ended school careers and talked about new jobs on the horizon. We arrived in Ely around 4:30 in the morning, catching a quick rest before opening up Brittons Cafe. Copious amounts of coffee was drank and we were ready to start our wilderness adventure. The weather was grey and windy. Every so often the clouds would open up and shower on us. Yet with our early start, we were pushing off into Lake One by 8am. I worried about our gear getting wet and staying wet the whole trip.

Despite all being good friends and accustomed to one another, none of us had canoed together, so the first few miles through the drizzle were further slow as the newest guys got comfortable in the canoe and we all became acquainted with each other as paddling partners. Despite having spent years together, the travel in the wilderness allowed us to relate to each other in a new way and one which required a different kind of team work that we had ever needed in school.

By the afternoon, the rain stopped, but the wind picked up. This presented a challenge for our inexperienced crew, especially Phil and Brad. However, Phil rose to the challenge and expertly guided his canoe across the toughest stretches, namely that of crossing Lake Three.

Despite a lack of sleep, poor weather, and an inexperienced crew, we were able to make it through all of the numbered lakes. We made our first camp on the island campsite in Hudson Lake in the narrows between Lake Four and Lake Insula. A dinner of steak, potatoes and corn on the cob, pleased everyone and helped us to warm up and dry out after a relatively cold and wet day.

The next morning was a late start as everyone seemed to sleep in after our long night of driving and day of traveling previously. We started with the portage into Lake Insula. Being only early May, half-way through the portage, there was a tree downed across the trail. Even when the trail is marked with a seemingly well defined path, obstacles arise and must be overcome. We had become familiar with the obstacles of school – the studying, the exams, the internships. The obstacles of working and careers were yet unknown. However, much like this fallen tree, we would approach those new challenges as they came and similarly overcome them. This challenge required us to set down the pack and canoes, cross the fallen tree before picking our loads back up and resuming down the path.

We hadn’t fished the day before, instead focusing on traveling in the weather and getting off to a good start. I caught a northern right after we pushed off into Lake Insula. What luck! Unfortunately, we would only catch fish on Lake Insula through the entire trip. However, we had planned an packed to make meals of fish a luxury rather than a necessity.

Perhaps it was the distraction of catching the fish or the unfamiliarity of the Lake Insula, but at this point I misplaced us on the map. We traveled on first unawares that a mistake had been made, then I traveled in a state of confusion as I tried to locate our actual position. Finally realizing that we had been south of a large island instead of to the north of it, we were actually in a better position, having traveled further than I had thought. Again, our trip presented a lesson for our future selves: in life as we travel through the new and unknown, the best we can do is push ahead making the choices as we see fit at the time. We eventually arrive at an outcome and it didn’t matter that we were lost for times in between.

Now that our position was known, we stopped for lunch at a campsite on a peninsula sticking out from the Eastern shore. To keep our day, and our packs, efficient I had planned for our lunches to be stoveless, instead consisting of things like bagels, peanut butter, salami, cheese, and dried hummus. However, upon pulling ashore, Brad started rummaging through the packs like a madman. “Where is the coffee?!!” In a dance that became familiar throughout the rest of the trip, any time we pulled ashore, Brad’s sole purpose in life became the making of coffee. Once a cup of coffee was in hand, he was free to focus on working to meet other “lesser” needs.

After lunch we continued on up Lake Insula. I caught a second northern – now we had a meal! We made our second camp at the northern end of the lake right at the at the outlet of the Kawashiwi River out of Lake Insula. We hadn’t quite made as good of time as we had originally predicted, so that night we decided to pass on extending the trip to Alice and Fishdance lakes, instead heading north to Kiana and Thomas. In our new lives we would each have times when adjustments to plans were required and changes made, just as shown during this trip.

The next morning began with a long Portage (180 rods) into Kiana Lake and a shorter portage (25 rods) took us into Thomas Lake. We broke for lunch at the outlet of Thomas lake at the northern end. This was a good place to break for lunch, as four more short portages were ahead of us to take us into Ima Lake. Once in Ima lake we made our campsite at the first campsite we found on the Southern shore. This left us with the better part of the afternoon to hang out in camp and relax. When traveling in the wilderness, as well as during any phase of life, it is important to remember to take time for relaxation and We attempt some additional fishing, but unfortunately equipment troubles cut the fishing short. No fish for supper.

Instead we have spaghetti with red sauce. We also attempted to reconstitute dried peas, but unfortunately for us, we didn’t realize how long this took, and despite our patience and efforts, we ended up eating some pretty hard peas.

The next day our goal was to get as close to the takeout on Snowbank Lake, while still having a good campsite to enjoy our final night. This was going to require many short portages to travel into Disappointment Lake. The water level seemed relatively high. This makes sense as ice had probably only left the lake a month earlier. However, it was odd that we hadn’t noticed this any earlier. Many of the portages were able to be traversed with shorter distances than marked. We were even able to navigate around some of the obstacles, which reduced our portaging requirements further.

At the far Southern end of Disappointment Lake, we found a great campsite with a large open rock at the front and a well developed campsite behind. While we probably could have gotten closer to our final destination, the campsite seemed too good to pass up. It was only about one in the afternoon so we had a full afternoon ahead of us for our last night. The large open rock steeply rose to about eight feet off the deep water on one side. A perfect rock for jumping off of and going for a swim. The swim was a fun way to start our last afternoon.


After drying off, we began to slowly prepare our supper of caned beef stew over rice. While we wait for supper to heat up and the rice to cook, we develop a new diversion… A rock throwing contest!

We found a basketball sized rock (probably about 10-15 pounds) but not exactly evenly shaped. We started out just throwing the rock while we developed our techniques and laid out the ground rules. We decided that the rock had to be thrown from behind an established line (after which you could cross the line) and that the best technique was some variation of release with a running start. Then we started the official competition. Three throws were taken with the best overall throw determining the results. After three throws Brad and I were tied for the longest throws. So in our first ever competition, we had to develop a tie break system. We decided on sudden death with alternating who throws first. The first round, Brad and I tie again. Then finally in the second sudden death throw I beat Brad for the title.

By this time our supper was cooked, and we had worked up an appetite. We eat our warm supper and stay up around a large campfire. The contentment of warmth and friendship after a physical but relaxing day makes us happy and we have a fun last night.


The next day, we had only one portage into Snowbank Lake. The portage was relatively long, but with a light food pack and being close to the end, the portage was easily handled. Once in Snowbank Lake, we could see the landing. We start off onto the water. Unspokenly, we all start paddling faster, not wanting the other to pull ahead. Finally, everyone acknowledged it – the race was on! The canoes raced towards the landing. I was pulling on my paddle as hard as I can remember. Suddenly, my paddle snapped clear in half. Not only did this mean that we lost the race, but this was the paddle that I had exclusively used for previous thirteen years, over half of my life at that point. I use other paddles now, but none have the wealth of memories that that one paddle did.

Danny and I landed well after Phil and Brad. Once we were all on land, we plotted the last task of the trip. Danny and Brad would run the 3-4 miles back to the parking lot with our car, while Phil and I took care of the canoes and began storing the gear to get it ready to pack into the car to go home.

Our careers separated us to various places – Milwaukee, Chicago, DC. But that trip helped us to make that transition to professional life. Our trip that May, now longer ago than I’d like to admit, was the perfect mix of the new and the familiar. For this one week between graduation and new jobs, we left the familiar behind and braced the new in the wilderness. With familiar friends we met the challenges of the day. Living out this simile, the unknown of life and jobs outside of school would be met with trust in ourselves and friends at our sides.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t quite end there. A few years ago, we lost Brad, leaving behind a family. Since then, this trip has taken on another place in our consciousness, the memories now combined with a feeling of loss. But also a feeling of thankfulness for the memories of our trip. Not only did this trip help us to transition out of school those years ago, but now it continues to help us to process this loss and to remember our friend.

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